Death Note – Light's Legacy
Chapter 5: Opening Moves
"Writing again, huh? You certainly remind me of someone else."
"Let me guess… Kira?" Blake responded to the Shinigami looming over him, without looking up; his eyes were fixed on the notebook he was writing in. His life had changed considerably over the past month. After he hid the Death Note that day, he tried to act as if nothing had happened. He'd posted on some internet forums, continued with a story he was writing, took a look at homework but was too lazy to do anything, went to the store, made dinner, played some videogames, took a shower, continued reading a novel, hung in front of the computer again and went to bed quite late. By the time he woke up the following morning and went to college, he'd nearly forgotten about that little red notebook that had appeared upon his desk. But it didn't take long for Blake to discover the news. He was extremely tempted to skip some classes and head home immediately, but was afraid even the slightest move like that could make him look suspicious. Classes had been an unendurable agony: on the one hand, he was anxious to try the notebook again in case it was a coincidence; on the other, he was struggling with the idea that he had just killed the President of the United States by writing in a notebook! But that evening, he tried again: this time, Blake wrote the name of a terrorist in it, describing in detail how his hiding place would be discovered by the local authorities in a few hours, how he would resist and would be killed. He stayed up all night to get the news – again, it had happened exactly the way he wanted to! It was around that moment, when Blake lay down upon his bed, shaking, knowing he was a murderer, that he had met Ryuk.
Ryuk had explained quite a bit and confirmed that he had been the Shinigami that had given Kira his Death Note. The first question about the rules of the note that Blake had posed was if there was a limit to controlling victims and circumstances. Ryuk had mentioned the 23-day rule. He had to admit, when Blake got his plan for the note, he started out with such enthusiasm to try it out, many of the deaths were scheduled to occur as late as possible. In retrospect, that may not have been the smartest move, but it couldn't be helped. Blake glanced at his watch, before turning his attention to Ryuk again… Today was the day.
"Hehehe… Exactly. The way you write so passionately is just like him, but…" The Shinigami paused to take another bite from his apple and looked a bit closer. "But what you're writing is definitely different…"
"I would assume so. Kira merely killed by heart attacks most of the time. I guess for him, it was the quantity that mattered. Bo-ring!" Blake said and laughed. Even from the start, Kira had punished countless criminals with the Death Note, but he was different. Better. Kira had been ruthless and got even more so as the years passed. By 2010 the world had all but turned into a dictatorship. He turned another page. But Blake was right! Blake was justice! It wasn't the quantity of the deaths, but the quality that mattered! In his lifetime, he would clean up the world and no one would even realise it. It wasn't like the world desperately needed the Death Note to become a better place… Blake would just lend a hand. He looked at each case individually, gathered data from the Internet to learn about potential victims and gave quite a lot of thought before he judged. And as said before, no one would know about it.
No one… Except…
"So, Ryuk – can I tempt you into giving me some more info on the Kira case today?"
"Hehe… I'm afraid you'll have to do a lot better than that, Blake," Ryuk said and went to lie down on the bed again. Dammit. From day one, he had been rather quiet about that matter… It was as if Ryuk was testing him, wanted to see if he would fare better. If that was indeed the case, then it made sense for him not to tell Blake much about it. He might want to see whether he would repeat the same mistakes Kira had made. Yet Blake wanted to know. He needed to know! Because there was one person that could stop him: L. During Kira's rise to power, Blake had originally been rooting for the world's greatest detective. Ironic that they could now end up as enemies. Even more so because Blake was from Wammy's House aswell – he had been adopted, you see. He finished writing and closed the notebook, then turned in his seat.
"Ryuk…"
"What?"
"If you won't tell me anything directly, is it okay if I voice my thoughts aloud for a little while?" Blake asked. Ryuk finished with an apple and shrugged.
"Several years ago, the judgement of criminals stopped. There are several possibilities as to why," Blake started, stood up and began pacing the room. "Option 1 – Kira quit voluntarily. Given what the world was turning into, I find that unlikely. He could've stopped years ago if he just wanted to send the world a warning and would've most likely made the deaths of criminals far more dramatic. For example, he could have set it up so that thousands of them would all die at the same time. Anyway, if that is true, then there are again several scenario's. Let's call this 1A – he regretted it, quit killing and is out there, still alive or he committed suicide. I doubt it since the judgments sped up rather than slowed down before he suddenly stopped. 1B – he regretted it and gave up possession of the Death Note. This one is possible, but he couldn't have afforded to do so unless he was confident he would never be caught. Even without his memories, there's a chance L suspected him and imprisonned him just to be sure. That's 1C. But personally, I believe in Option 2 – against his will, Kira was found, caught and subsequently imprisonned or executed in secret. That's what I would've done if I was L."
"That's all nice and dandy, but how is this helping?" Ryuk asked, obviously missing the point.
"Don't you see? The only way L could've discovered who Kira was, was if he discovered how he murdered his victims. Which means that it's reasonable to assume, given the likelihood of Option 2, that L knows about the Death Note. You gave Kira the note, so it's best to assume for me that you wrote it's basic rules in it aswell, just like you did with mine. If you follow that train of thought, than L knows the deaths can be manipulated. It's been nearly a month since I started using my Death Note. You do the math." A short silence fell between them before Ryuk sat up.
"Oh! So you mean that L is already on the move?" Blake made a clacking noise with his tongue and pointed at the Shinigami.
"Exactly. He's not making any covert actions or appearances like he did last time in order to gain hints because he knows I won't fall for it. It's also possible that he's keeping quiet because he wants the world to believe he's not involved with the case or that a case even exists. That way, they'll keep thinking Kira is gone and L can prevent another wave of supporters to rise up. Long story short: it's not safe for me to assume that I can avoid L just because I use different methods than Kira." Blake held the notebook in his hand once more and smirked. "The battle between me and L has already begun. The opening move has been played. L will respond. I may not like it, but now that I've started, I have no choice but to kill him. To do that, I will discover his name and face." Now Ryuk laughed again, obviously excited.
"And how are you planning on doing that, I wonder? You're up against someone that hasn't even shown himself in any way to you, with no idea who he is, where he is and who could be close to him."
"Now, now, Ryuk…" Blake turned away, staring at the bookcase. He'd give the world one hell of a story. "If I spoiled that, it wouldn't be any fun, now would it?"